


YWKON Blade Lore Doc

by rarmaster



Series: YWKON [23]
Category: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (Video Game)
Genre: Meta, admittedly this is just for one AU but why was i hosting this on gdocs............, lore doc, me taking xc2's blade lore and breaking it over my knee
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-09
Updated: 2019-10-09
Packaged: 2020-11-28 03:18:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20959580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rarmaster/pseuds/rarmaster
Summary: Overview of adjusted blade lore for my AU seriesYou Will Know Our Names.Explains what blades are to those unfamiliar with the XC2 vanilla lore, cleans up some inconsistencies, fusses out biological info (blades run on ether, not blood!) and adds cool aesthetics (more core crystal colors other than blue, ether lines), and goes over YWKON-specific additions.





	YWKON Blade Lore Doc

**Author's Note:**

> this is YWKON specific and is mostly a YWKON lore overview doc, but like, if you want to use any of these concepts in your XC2 fic I won't stop you, have fun, ether lines are cool as shit for starters and "a blade bleeds ether when hurt" is neat as hell, so have at it
> 
> also i'm not open to criticism of any sort beucase i've already written 200k of a Tales of Symphonia AU with this lore and i ain't changing shit _now_, if you don't like it then leave it or take what you like and yeet the rest, that's what i did with canon

**Blade Basics**

> the wiki says: “Blades are characters in Xenoblade Chronicles 2. They are weaponized life forms linked to a Driver who awakens them by resonating with a Core Crystal. Blades endow their Driver with powers and a weapon.” 

In other words:

> blades are kind of like if the weapons in Soul Eater had a baby with the gems in Steven Universe. Idk why I decided to phrase it like that but I’m fucking _ right _.

Or, in slightly different words

> blades are a species of magical beings that are tied to drivers through a thing called “resonance”. Blades do not / cannot normally exist outside of resonance with a driver (there are exceptions to this rule, we’ll get to those)

> blades have magic powers (humans do not) that include but are not limited to: essentially every magic arte you have seen ever, the ability to summon/banish their weapons at will. Drivers can borrow and use their blade’s weapon and magic (technically it’s called ether artes), which means it’s very rare to see anyone being a fighter if they are not also a driver, because a blade weapon is much more versatile than a regular one

> because blades are tied to their drivers through resonance, blades and drivers are lifetime partners both in and out of battle. This means it is a driver’s responsibility to take care of their blade, and ideally the bond between them is built on mutual trust and understanding, but there are absolutely drivers who abuse the system (OR ELSE WE WOULDN’T HAVE A STORY LOL)

> it doesn't really help that blades are compelled to protect and love their drivers via their instincts, either........... 

> or, YWKON Malos voice "That’s a blade’s whole _deal, _isn’t it? If your driver ain’t the scum of the earth, you end up loving ‘em. Might even end up loving ‘em if they _are _the scum of the earth. Sometimes it’s hard not to know better."

(sidenote for Tales of Symphonia fans: ether = mana, conceptually, I just ended up deciding on calling it ether for the AU, since ether is the XC term. If we want to get into technicals, ether is a more concentrated form of mana considering GESTURES AT CHAPTER 5’S BULLSHIT but the technical differences really aren’t that important)

**Other facts**

> instead of hearts like humans have, blades have core crystals which act as the center of their being and much like a heart pumps blood through a human, a core crystal pumps ether through a blade. Blades run solely on ether.

> if the driver dies (or the resonance is otherwise snapped), the blade dies

> Blades can also be killed while the driver is still alive, but blades have regenerative healing properties that make them hard to kill. (Basically: if it doesn’t kill them in one hit, they’ll live)

> Also, so long as their core crystal isn’t damaged, death will only return them to the core crystal until a new driver finds them and wakes them up

> blades lose their memories when they die (this is xc2 canon)

> Aegises: they’re legendary blades (with uniquely shaped core crystals, instead of the typical diamond shape) with powers much greater than other blades. The legends say that they were used to help build the world, though humanity is mostly just interested in using them to destroy it, in this AU.

> (an aside: apparently in xc2 canon blades can have whatever fucking shape core crystal they want, so long as it’s not Aegis-shaped???? Every non-Aegis in YWKON has a diamond though, because i’m lazy and also fuck you) (to be fair: having a unique core crystal shape works when they're all Blue i guess, but, eh)

> blades don’t age, or at least, not naturally

> part of resonance is that drivers and blades share an emotional bond that allow them to feel each other’s emotions. This was kind of xc2 lore, but was only explored for like two minutes for one blade/driver pair. XC2 is a coward, it’s canon for everybody now

> (emotion bleed is the only hot thing blades/drivers get; no, they can’t read each other’s minds, but sometimes reading emotions comes close)

**Hot new biology lore**

> blades are very similar to humans, but they are powered entirely by ether, and have ether flowing in their veins in place of blood. When they bleed, they bleed ether, and since ether isn’t really a liquid, this results in them bleeding glowy particles that dissipate into the air

> blades have ether lines in their skin which is new shit because xc2 is a coward! Here’s what ether lines look like!! They glow in the dark!!

(sidenote: blades can also take the shape of animals (see: [ dromarch ](http://xenoblade.wikia.com/wiki/Dromarch)) and these animals absolutely definitely have ether lines too!! i don't know what that looks like in every animal but see [concept for dromarch](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/556926015008407563/730517159578435745/unknown.png))

> UPDATE: ETHER LINES ARE KIND OF CANON??? APPARENTLY THEY SHOW UP ON BLADES, OCCASIONALLY, PROBABLY A “CAN BE TURNED ON/OFF KIND OF THING”, actualy the glowy bits align with the glowy bits on their outfits, ANYWAY UH, here’s [one](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/556926015008407563/730516644627087490/unknown.png) [two](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/556926015008407563/730516523290198178/unknown.png) [three](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/556926015008407563/730520337510432838/img0075.jpg) examples

> UPDATE 2: on the vein of the linked examples, I've started considering actually it would be rad as hell if each blade had unique ether lines, like a fingerprint. i have yet to tweak the lore in text to reflect this, but.... Imagine

> xc2 vanilla lore said that all blades had blue core crystals unless you were an aegis (or a flesh eater, we’ll get to those) but FUCK THAT, everyone gets unique colors, it’s more fun. 

> blades also blush the color of their ether! the blush glows!

> Core crystals also glow in the dark

> core crystals are also very sensitive to the touch in the feel-good kind of way (but it’s, kind of the center of your entire being, so, of course they are) (THE CORE OF YOUR BEING, IF YOU WILL,)

> sidenote: blades’ sex bits are boring and identical to human sex bits but geSTURES TO WHO THE GOD OF THIS WORLD IS, AND TELL ME HE WOULD HAVE GOTTEN CREATIVE, BECUASE YOU FUCKING KNOW HE WOULDN’T HAVE

**Flesh eaters**

> flesh eaters are a real ass thing from xc2, and i’m sorry the terminology is Like That but i didn’t pick it!!. They’re a result of human bits (organs, cells, blood, etc) being introduced to a blade body, usually through experimentation, but not always. Does the process actually involve eating human flesh? I don’t know and I don’t want to think about it! 

> specifically though: flesh eaters have a human heart inside of them now along with the core crystal, and that human heart pumps human blood through their veins, meaning they run on both ether and blood now.

> pros to being a flesh eater: you get to keep your memories and don’t need a driver. Can’t die unless you’re killed, in theory

> cons to being a flesh eater: if you got bad luck, the human blood that was introduced to your body will REALLY fuck you over, introducing constant pain and sometimes aging (meaning you can die, of old age, though you will at least age slower than a human). Also, if you die, you’re dead for good! no going back to your core crystal to regenerate.

> flesh eaters also have trouble processing ether compared to a regular blade. The exact trouble they do/do not have with this varies based on the flesh eater

> flesh eaters’ core crystals have discoloration, usually a cloudy red-brown. (in xc2 canon, it was pink, but No). (this makes it difficult to tell in blades who already have red or pink core crystals) 

> flesh eaters’ ether lines don’t glow as brightly as regular blades’. Too much human blood clogging up the system.

> (same goes for blushing)

> speaking of blood: they bleed liquid, but it’s a kind of gross mix of blood and ether. If the discolored core crystal doesn’t give them away, this certainly will

> “hey rar didn’t xc2 canon say somewhere that flesh eaters unlocked phenomenal power by becoming a flesh eater?” YES, BUT LIKE, I HAD NO USE FOR THAT, SO DON’T WORRY ABOUT IT! 

> "hey rar why the Fuck would a blade willingly become a flesh eater anyway" well unfortunately the blade system does not offer an out to blades with abusive drivers other than this one, unless you're cool with Also Dying And Forgetting Everything. ((there are other reasons, probably, but this is the most prominent one))

**Blade eaters**

> much rarer than flesh eaters. Created by taking a piece of a core crystal and transplanting it in a human body. The process can save a human’s life

> the blade and the human who share a core crystal now also share physical pain, and a tied life force that will kill both of them should either one of them die (this is xc2 canon that may have only applied to aegises, but fuck you it applies to all blade/blade eater pairs now)

> on the bright side, blade eaters stop aging (or at least age _ really slowly, _this is xc2 canon but it’s kind of unclear?), so you live forever unless you’re killed

> ether is much less harsh on a human body than blood is on a blade body, so blade eaters don’t get fucked up in that regard. However, if you were saved from death by a core crystal transplant, being cut off from ether will kill you as surely as it will kill a blade.

> xc2 had lore about blade eater experiments creating monstrosities but we pretend that didn’t happen, it isn’t relevant for this AU anyway, and also gestures to the god who made this world and what the basis for blades are, and tell me he wouldn’t have safeguarded it to hell and back to make sure “can turn into monsters” wasn’t a thing that was even close to being on the table. Not again. Never again.


End file.
